


Movement Never Lies

by coloredmoon



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Gen, M/M, dance, dance academy au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25793557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coloredmoon/pseuds/coloredmoon
Summary: It’s almost time for one of the most exciting times of the year at Kunugigaoka Dance Academy: the big showcase. All students will be divided in groups to fit their dancing styles, except the E group, which consists of all leftover styles or students not good enough for the other groups. Korosensei gets to prove himself as a teacher and choreographer by leading Group E for the showcase. He needs to miraculously motivate a bunch of students with no self esteem and many diverting dance styles to work together and create one performance, and somehow survive all the personal drama they have too. Can they unify all their styles whether it be ballet, contemporary, hip hop or… line dancing?(Assclass BigBang 2020)
Relationships: Akabane Karma/Shiota Nagisa
Comments: 14
Kudos: 100
Collections: Assassination Classroom Big Bang 2020





	1. Act 1

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to the fic I wrote for the Assclass BigBang! thank you to Fumiko for making the lovely art for this fic, I'm absolutely in love with it and just asdfghjkl. Trust me I was speechless when I first saw the art.  
> I had lots of fun writing this fic and would have loved to make it longer, seeing as I had this au for a while and a much more complicated and worked out plot before. However, bigbang fics are around 20k words so I stuck with this. Because of my enthusiasm I already wrote a few oneshots tho so :) expect to see those some time soon or maybe over a longer period of time.  
> I hope y'all like a dance academy AU. This isn't based on the TV show btw, just the general idea of dance schools.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the story. A new teacher approaches Kunugigaoka Dance Academy.

****

**Act 1 Part 1**

Korosensei opened the doors of the Kunugigaoka Dance Academy and couldn’t hold back his enthusiasm. He’d been looking forward for years now to get all of his qualifications and become a dance teacher, and for him to get this opportunity at such a prestigious dance academy was like a blessing. The building was large and fancy looking, relatively old too, which came with a certain charm. 

This chance he’d been given wasn’t anything final, he knew that. He would have to prove himself by choreographing a group for the academy’s upcoming showcase, which was a pretty big deal seeing as that was how these kids could get noticed for their dancing skills and get attention from choreographers and future employers in the dance world. It was only logical he wanted to do well, for himself and his students. 

At last, he entered his designated studio. When he looked around he saw all of his students already waiting for him, at least he assumed that was the entire E group. There was an abundance of students, obviously all very different looking generally speaking, but something else was odd about them too. For some reason they all wore very different practicing clothes, which in itself wasn’t too weird considering each person has their own style, however, the differences were like the contrast between dance styles. 

“Hello everyone, my name is Korosensei,” He introduced himself, a polite smile remaining on his face. He could have easily smiled brighter if not for the fact he didn’t want to scare these students away with his enthusiasm. “It’s a sort of nickname, don’t mind that. I’ll be working with you for your showcase performance!” 

Not much of a reaction arose from the students. Most of them stared at him or looked at whoever they were talking to before he’d entered with confusion. Korosensei figured a new teacher might be weird, but surely they were excited for showcase prep? 

They sure didn’t _seem_ excited. Perhaps they needed something to start with. Korosensei had to figure out what kind of direction their performance needed to go in anyways, so some introductions and discussions would be enough for that particular day. 

“So, uh- Just to start then: What do we want to perform? I mean we have an audience full of important people to impress.” As he spoke he looked around the room, scanning the reaction of each student to get an idea on how they would be. “Important for your futures that you impress these people and all. Important for mine too, I’d like to keep teaching.” He ended with a casual laugh. 

The class didn’t seem to think it was funny. Rather, more glances were shared before, finally, a student took a step forward to be the voice of the class. Usually Korosensei would note down this person’s importance for the later process, they were probably a leader type and had a lot of influence on the group. 

“Sir, the name’s Isogai Yuuma and, well, I think we’re all a little lacking in hope for this performance. What, with the whole E group idea and all.” The guy spoke, an appreciated formal tone in his voice. 

It surprised the man, left him silent and confused. He hadn’t heard many details about his assignment yet, only knowing he’d have to help these students create a performance, so he wasn’t sure what the ‘E group idea’ was. 

Another girl spoke up. She had her red hair tied in two pigtails and her sharp look didn’t change as she spoke. “We’re a group of students thrown together because we weren’t good enough for the designated styles or didn’t specialize in any of those.” She spoke as if it was the most obvious information and, judging by the reaction of the students around her, it was. 

Korosensei looked around to see all the faces of his students. Most of them looked either disappointed or like they had come to terms with the situation and seemingly bored. This is no way matched Korosensei’s expectations of the start of his teaching career, it disappointed him. He told the students to go off and practice for themselves for a bit for today as he observed everyone’s dancing, which indeed seemed to vary quite a lot for all the people throughout the room. Surely what the students were telling him wasn’t really true. 

\----------------------------------

Korosensei spends the rest of the day talking to other instructors at the academy. Because his only assignment at that moment was to work with group E, he didn’t have much else to do and was encouraged to use this sort of time to take up information or perhaps work on music and costume choices. He could do pretty much what he wanted within the building to waste some time. 

Most instructors ended up telling him the same thing: Group E was never a success story. They were, in fact, a mismatched group that was never intended to put on a proper performance. When the twelfth instructor had told him the class usually ended up as a laughing stock of the showcase, he really started to feel bad for these kids. 

“You should probably quit” He heard Irina, the so manieth instructor tell him. She was a foreigner with a questionable background who somehow ended up teaching at a prestige academy. Korosensei would usually question her but she had a way of shutting people up. “It has been done several years now, no one really cares, the students are usually-”

She stopped mid sentence to angrily point at one of her students who practically jumped at the pole he’d been using. “DO NOT JUMP AT THE POLE! DO YOU _WANT_ A BRUISED LEG? YOU DON’T NEED THIS CLASS FOR THAT BELIEVE ME.” Her voice boomed through the studio and the addressed student looked shocked by her sudden call out. 

Of course, Korosensei knew she’d be distracted during their talk, it was his own decision to interrupt her during class. The problem was Irina tended to be very difficult to find the moment her class was over, and Korosensei did kind of value her very honest opinion, even if he didn’t always agree. 

“Anyways, where was I?” Irina turned back to look at Korosensei with a thoughtful look on her face. Her entire body moved with, she always spoke with both words and body language and it was somewhat distracting to Korosensei, so he didn’t answer her. Luckily, she remembered what she needed herself. “Right, the students don’t mind, they don’t want to be humiliated anyways.” 

He shook his head stubbornly. “But these students want to dance, right?” 

With a sigh, Irina turned back to inspect her class, a focused eye going past each and every student to see if they were doing everything right. “These students don’t want to be humiliated.” She said, before walking off to help lift up a girl who couldn’t raise herself on the pole properly, ending their conversation. 

Korosensei didn’t want his students to feel humiliated, but they shouldn’t have to be kept from dancing because of their dance school’s weird policy. He was more set than ever on the idea of creating the perfect performance. 

\-----------------------------

The next day he appeared in front of the class and ordered all of them to do their stretches. The confused looks of some people don’t go past him, he kind of gets what they would be thinking. From what he heard from the other instructors, group E teachers have been cancelling the performance for years now, they’re probably assuming he’ll be doing the same. 

Little do they know, they’re dealing with a very stubborn man. 

In the middle of stretches, Kataoka speaks up. He recognizes her because he’d been looking over names and pictures all night to memorize all his students and their designated dances, with his end goal being to understand exactly what he can do with them. “Sir, why are we doing collective stretches? Can’t we just spend this time to practice for ourselves, and in our own pace too?” 

Of course, he was prepared for her to ask that. He knew exactly how much his students might be against his idea, but he wasn’t going to back down. He was their teacher and choreographer and they had to listen to him. 

“Actually, If we want to create a cohesive performance, I do believe we need to practice together.” He basically just announced they would be doing their performance, and he saw the surprised faces in the room stare him down. “Now, I think some people really need to learn about stretching more. You three are not working your upper muscles good enou-” 

Before he could finish a new voice spoke up. “You actually think you can choreograph a dance with all different dance styles and with some kind of inexperienced students in your group, as well?” 

Akabane Karma, Korosensei remembered his file very well. The guy did just about any type of dance Korosensei could imagine this school teaching, and maybe even more. What stood out most was that he was good in most of them, too, which is why him being in group E, a group for basically outcasts, was so odd. Someone that talented and good wouldn’t usually be put down that much. 

On closer inspection, the guy seemed to have… quite the attitude. Apart from his probably cocky nature, he also tended to get into trouble easily. His inappropriate song and costume choices and challenges to the form were not appreciated by the academy or most private tutors. 

It didn’t help that there was a rumour he broke some competitor’s knees right before a competition at some point. 

It was safe to say the guy had a reputation, and it wasn’t really a surprise to Korosensei that he would be someone to speak up against him. He’d be a little offended if the local edgy troublemaker didn’t react to him at all. 

“All of you might think it’s hopeless, and this academy apparently wants you to believe that,” Korosensei started explaining. “I’m not sure what the goal of this method is, but I’m going to take it as an opportunity to show off how versatile all of you can be. We’re going to mix up all of your styles, learn from each other and blow away the audience just like that.” 

Everyone looks at him like he’s crazy. Some students even stifle a laugh, but Korosensei doesn’t see it as laugh worthy. They might laugh at him, but he had no issues forcing them to get up and work along with him. These kids _would_ be dancing together. 

And he forces them to do just that. He pairs up some considerably compatible dance styles and makes groups of five for the students to work together. Everything goes by a little awkward, with most students merely talking to each other. Some groups barely even do that. Korosensei sees this as a sign that they aren’t really friends. He knows these students have to learn to work with anyone though, if they want to make it as dancers. 

In the corner of his eye, he sees Isogai doing a simple leg swing in an attempt to start something in their group. Sadly, all it does is scare Okuda, who jumps away at the sudden movement. Isogai immediately stops and goes to apologize. No further dancing happens. 

By the end of class, Korosensei can’t help but be disappointed in his students. He hadn’t expected things to immediately go smoothly with one class, obviously, but he’d hoped for some kind of nice interactions and maybe a little interest from some people in other classes. Somehow, he had a hard time believing this class wasn’t even the tiniest bit curious to learn about different dances and try to combine them. To Korosensei, it was a really fun project. 

He watches everyone stream out of the room, some faster than others, and he can’t help but listen in to some conversations. Most of it, he expects. He heard Takebayashi complain loudly about how his parents didn’t pay an enormous amount of money to see him end up dancing some tango with his classmates. Apparently he thought his parents would really go off about it and he “wouldn’t be good at it” either. 

One conversation in particular fell on his ear. Nagisa and Hazama were talking, both promptly trying to pack their stuff so they could follow Terasaka and his friends who went ahead in an apparent hurry to leave the studio. Oddly enough, it wasn’t anyone criticizing his method, which Korosensei felt was a relief. 

“I mean, surely it isn’t impossible to combine hip hop with ballet, right?” Nagisa tried to convince Hazama. The two didn’t seem like the type to be friends, but their behaviour told him otherwise. Then again, they were in the same ballet class. 

Hazama reacted with a sigh. “Nagisa, please tell me you’re kidding.” 

“I- no! I do think it’s possible.” He defended himself, but the way he uttered it made him sound terribly insecure about the idea. “It might not be easy, but it would look… cool? I think?” 

“You’re crazy.” was all Hazama said before she threw her packed bag over her shoulder and took the initiative to walk out. 

Nagisa promptly threw his dance shoes in his bag and did the same, hurrying after her to not be left behind. He hadn’t even closed his bag, causing some of his belongings to spill out. With a sigh he bent down to grab all of it again. When he got up again, half of his stuff still in his hands, Hazama was standing in the doorway with an eyebrow raised at him. 

“Sorry,” He said, shoulder hanging low. More carefully this time, he put his things in his bags as he walked over to her so they could have their break. “I just wish we could all perform together.” 

**Act 1 part 2**

Sometimes Korosensei felt like cursing himself for trying so hard. It asked for a lot of work not only from himself but from others around him too. In this case, his students were the ones to have to work hard when they hadn’t been expecting to. He knew he was doing the right thing though, so he wasn’t about to stop. 

He’d forced them to dance this time, making the entire class follow him in doing steps from several styles he knew to be represented in the class. Their struggles were evident, but he knew that with some practice they’d do just great. Sure, he only knew them for a few days, but that didn’t stop him from believing in them. 

After moving the previous frontline to the back, giving everyone an opportunity to be seen by him and also to reduce constant front and center pressure, Korosensei noted the interesting line up he had right behind him now. In the mirror’s reflection he saw mostly jazz dance students such as Kanzaki, Kurahashi, Hayami, and Chiba. He wanted to take time to pity them, seeing as he was about to do a combination that fused streetdance with several forms of latin dancing, but someone else in the row presented a pretty nice opportunity for him to prove his point. 

The combo started pretty quickly, a floor move with a cha cha cha rhythm, and some students had difficulty keeping up with it. However, just as he’d expected, Korosensei could see a certain redhead moving along just fine. Even as he went to the next move, he seemed to have no particular trouble copying what his teacher was doing. It was sort of impressive how quickly he caught on. 

Other students started to get wind of it too, redirecting their looks from their instructor to their fellow student. It didn’t help that Korosensei was watching him intensely, too, easily making said student a target of everyone’s attention. When the music stopped, Karma himself had noticed too, but he didn’t seem particularly fond of the attention. 

“Karma, you seem to have no trouble with these… original moves.” Korosensei turned around to face him, portraying a smile on his face to show he was in fact being proud of him. “I do believe you can do this challenging performance just fine.” he hoped the other students would see one student doing fine and see it as a sign to try harder themselves. Perhaps it could help them believe his idea wasn’t so stupid. 

Karma’s instant reaction was to shrug. Something was off about him as he looked around him slightly to his fellow students. “What? Like it’s hard?” Honestly, Korosensei should have expected a reaction like that. 

Someone else in the room scoffed at his reaction, and Korosensei wasn’t the only one looking for the source. “Just like you to be into this stuff and brag about it,” Terasaka said, clearly not a fan of the other guy. “Proves it’s lame, doesn’t it?” 

Strangely enough, most people seemed to somewhat agree with Terasaka or showed disinterest in the situation. This seemed to boost Terasaka’s grin, but did not do much to Karma. Karma actually seemed to take it. 

“Don’t worry, Terasaka, it’s an intellectual thing,” Karma responded. “You and your hollow head wouldn’t know anything about that.” 

This seemed to enrage Terasaka, and he stepped forward to show Karma just what those words would cost. Judging by what Korosensei knew about Karma, he wouldn’t mind a little fight. It would ruin his reputation as a teacher though, and any chance of this class getting a performance at all. Terasaka didn’t care about any of that, of course, he was out to hurt Karma. Before he could, Nagisa jumped in front of Karma with his hands raised as a sign of peace. 

Korosensei’s instant reaction was to wonder where on earth Nagisa had come from, and then if there was a chance _he_ was about to be punched. Oddly enough though, Terasaka stopped in his tracks too, giving a confused look to the person that was suddenly in front of him. It was a little surprising Nagisa could have that effect. 

“Okay, let’s not fight over _this_ .” Nagisa tried to resolve the situation. Nothing in his body language showed him to be particularly bothered by the position he’d gotten himself into. “Karma practices a lot of dances, he can pick up on mixed styles more easily, it’s nothing _higher class_ , nor is it that ‘lame’ or ‘weird’ to do. We should probably just dance, seeing as that’s what we all came here for” 

Terasaka seemed to cool down. He scoffed once more, before turning around to stand with his usual squad. All the people around him, who seemed to have agreed before, chilled out too, as if Nagisa’s words were enough to convince them things were fine. Most even stopped complaining and instead tried to endure the class. 

Still, no one seemed enthusiastic to be doing what they were doing, but they weren’t complaining or refusing to do anything, either. More students actually managed to execute moves pretty much perfectly. 

Korosensei noted Nagisa’s attitude and effect, thinking it could be sort of useful. 

\-----------------------------

Nagisa checked his bag for what was probably the 7th time since he sat down, a little anxious he’d somehow forgotten to bring his dancing shoes with him. He couldn’t exactly go to an audition without them. On top of that, he knew his mother would be more than annoyed with him, and seeing as she was driving him to the studio the auditions were held at, he did not need her to be in a bad mood. 

Because the audition was a pretty big thing, he’d gotten to leave from his afternoon ballet class earlier. However, he ended up leaving a little too early and his mother hadn’t even arrived yet, so he was just waiting on a bench in the hallway of the academy, checking his bag _just one more time_. He knew he should just put it down before he’d psych himself out, but the nerves just got the best of him. 

Suddenly, he hears footsteps coming from around the corner, and he turns his head to take a look at who’s coming the moment they turn the corner. He immediately recognized the E group’s new instructor, Korosensei, who is now making his way over to him with a polite smile on his face. 

Nagisa waves slightly at him as a greeting, not really sure what he wants from him. There was always a chance he heard of his audition and came to wish him luck, not that he couldn’t have done that in class that morning. He would have tried to rationalize it a bit more if it wasn’t for the fact that he had sat down next to him and was turned to him too. It was clear he wanted to talk. 

“Uh- I’m allowed to be out of class, I have an audi-” Nagisa started, but he didn’t have a chance to finish. 

“Oh! No, I know about your audition, this isn’t about that.” His teacher reassured him. Something about his tone told Nagisa he had a serious topic to discuss, though, making him hope he wasn’t in any trouble. “See, I was hoping to discuss some things about, well, dancing with you.” 

Honestly, Nagisa wasn’t sure how to react to that. He could talk about dancing with literally anyone in the academy. Why would he come all the way here to find Nagisa for that who, by the way, had to leave in literally a few minutes. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I understand.” He admitted, hoping his instructor to explain what he actually wanted from him. This was a man who studied dancing and is preparing to teach it for a living, there wasn’t much ground where they were equals and could have a decent discussion of. There definitely wasn’t any topic for which there wasn’t a much better person to talk to. 

Korosensei kept showing his polite smile to Nagisa, it may have even gone a little softer to be a little more reassuring to the younger boy. “Well, there’s a lot of stuff going on with the whole showcase thing, and I was thinking about the whole ‘try new things’ idea, you know?” 

He took a break to look at Nagisa’s reaction. Nagisa just shrugged, still confused. 

“Personally, I think that, as a dancer, you should always try new things, you know?” As he spoke he seemed to keep an observing look directed at Nagisa, as if to judge any and all reactions the student had. “Don’t you think that’s what keeps performances interesting, something new?” 

A little unsure if that was an actual question or more of the rhetorical nature, Nagisa answered awkwardly. “I guess? The things your body can’t do stay limited, though. For example, at some point you learn every ballet move and the only new thing is… the order? I suppose?” 

That answer seemed to satisfy Korosensei, though Nagisa wasn’t sure why. “True, but that’s also partly because ballet has rules, right?” Nagisa just nodded at him, so he could continue presenting his train of thought. “I just think you could deliver so much more by thinking outside the box and bringing something new. Rules aren’t everything, you know?” 

Korosensei kept talking. He just went on and on about trying stuff and not limiting yourself, and mostly about how dancing was an art and art isn’t always as straightforward as one thinks. At least, he thought that was the case. Nagisa couldn’t say he really disagreed with that philosophy. 

He understood what his teacher was getting at. This was about the E group’s performance. It didn’t entirely make sense for him to discuss this with him, in Nagisa’s opinion. In all honesty, Nagisa kind of already believed this stuff, even if he did always end up limiting himself in ballet because that’s what he was taught. His guess was Korosensei either knew Nagisa thought like this and wanted someone on his side, or he was having this talk with everyone. He really hoped it was the second option, because Nagisa did not think highly enough of himself to see himself having any influence at all on his fellow students. 

“Sir, if you just want me to do as you say for our performance and do the whole mixing styles thing, I don’t need a lecture.” He interrupted Korosensei’s passionate talk about the difference between ballet and contemporary dancing. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been trying my best to keep up, I won’t bother you.” 

Korosensei sighed, but kept smiling as he did. “I know that, I kind of wanted to ask you to do more, maybe learn something yourself through your fellow students. Get people engaged?” 

Because Nagisa wasn’t too full of himself by nature, he wasn’t sure he could really do that. He wanted to explain that to his teacher but his phone suddenly started ringing. When he looked at the screen he saw his mother calling, meaning she arrived to pick him up and was most likely waiting in the car. 

“Look I-” He looked down at his phone, knowing he couldn’t keep his mother waiting and _had_ to go. “I’ll see if I can get some practice with Hazama’s friends, I guess? They do hip hop so I- I’m sorry, I really do have to go.” 

Korosensei had no issues letting him go, only calling a last good luck to him as Nagisa speed walked out of the building. Unintentionally, he had stopped being nervous for his audition, seeing as those nerves were now replaced with uncertainty about the promise he just made. 

\------------------------------

It wasn’t unusual for Nagisa to spend his lunch break with Hazama and her friends. Sometimes classes at the academy overlapped or didn’t stop at the same time as others. It must be a hell for the schedulers because some things really didn’t work out. Nagisa’s biggest issue with it, however, was that his usual friendgroup didn’t always end up having lunch at the same time as him. 

Even though Kayano majored in ballet too, her being in a different class caused her to be done later than Nagisa three times a week, and though that would usually mean he could still sit with Sugino, he had taken up a specialised break dance class that just so happened to be during his usual lunch break. Nagisa had enough people he could sit with, he just decided to sit with Hazama because she was pretty cool, and she also had an entire squad, which meant that sometimes Nagisa could just sit down and listen to their conversation rather than keep something going one on one. 

Today, Nagisa actually had something to talk about, though. He was a little anxious to do so, because especially Terasaka wasn’t usually very impressed by him and in this scenario, just having Hazama on his side wouldn’t work. Getting the boys to want to work with him wouldn’t be easy, especially considering his main reason for doing so is their teacher suggesting it. 

“Big words for a guy who can’t do the macarena.” Yoshida crossed his arms as he sent an unimpressed laugh in Muramatsu’s direction. Nagisa wasn’t exactly sure what those two had been talking about.

“Hey! I’m the first one here who managed to do a headspin!” Muramatsu defended himself. 

Yoshida shook his head in disappointment. “Compensation.” 

Somehow, that comment reminded Nagisa why he didn’t fit in that well with this friend group. He definitely didn’t talk like that. He kind of wanted to ask how he didn’t know the macarena, but he knew he had a more important topic to bring up. Now that they were talking about dance, it would be a little bit of a logical bridge at least. 

Just as Terasaka was about to meddle with whatever their weird disagreement was about, Nagisa decided to speak up too. “I’m guessing a headspin is hard then?” He asked. 

No one really answered him at first, the group seemed to just kind of stare at him for a moment. Nagisa didn’t think it was so weird for him to speak up, he did actually talk with them sometimes, even if it wasn’t usually on any hip hop topic. He supposed his sudden interest in it might be new. 

“It is.” Terasaka finally answered him. It didn’t seem he was going to say much else about it. 

“Oh, well…” Now Nagisa was starting to feel awkward about speaking up. “I guess that’s… kind of cool then?” His eyes raced between each person in the squad, somehow hoping any of them would answer him. He didn’t even care if they changed the topic, as long as it would end. 

As it turned out, Hazama was his saviour. “Honestly, you should have seen him the first time he tried. He gave himself a headache for two days and then thought he’d just try again, like an idiot.” She portrayed an ever so slight smile, one you would miss if you didn’t look right. It kind of showed how comfortable she was with her friend group and Nagisa thought that was pretty nice. 

No one commented on her smile, Muramatsu was rather busy defending his honour in regards to that story. “It’s determination!” His voice was raised to such a volume that several people in the cafeteria could definitely listen along, but he probably wasn’t thinking about that. 

“Compensation.” Yoshida repeated his earlier statement. 

“Determination!” Everyone laughed as Muramatsu once again had to defend himself. Nagisa kind of agreed with him though, he really did think determination could get you there. At least he hoped so. 

It was that thought that got him to speak up again. “I mean, anyone could at least learn basics with determination, right?” He said, trying very hard to sound casual. “Could even do that mixing dance styles like that probably.” 

He noticed Hazama rolling her eyes, not taking him serious at all. Terasaka, however, seemed to see through him. The look in his eyes told Nagisa he knew he wasn’t just saying things. 

“The things that idiotic teacher wants to do won’t work.” Terasaka simply stated. “I don’t think you and Hazama, as ballerina’s, would just pull off any of our moves. You’d probably complain too much if you tried.” 

Nagisa’s first instinct was to correct Terasaka on the fact that he just called him a ballerina. Ballerina was female and he- well it wasn’t important for that conversation anyways. 

Instead, he tried to be persistent. “Anyone can be taught! If you tried teaching the two of us-” 

“No.” Apparently, Terasaka’s opinion was set. He had his arms crossed and, to Nagisa, he just looked a little too stubborn. “We’re not teaching you hip hop.” 

He didn’t mean to, but, as Nagisa’s mind tried to think of any kind of solution to the situation, he thought about Karma. He and Karma had only _really_ hung out for about half a year, before Karma decided to quit ballet and Nagisa lost his dance partner, but Karma left enough of an impression to influence Nagisa’s possible actions at that moment. 

Somehow, he knew exactly what Karma’s strategy would be. He’d seen it play out enough, even on Terasaka, and he knew it worked. Sadly, Nagisa’s expertise wasn’t in this particular field. Seeing as he didn’t want to give in so easily, however, he decided to try. 

“Don’t worry I get it.” He sighed, acting as if he were a little disappointed. Terasaka’s suspicious look didn’t go past him, however. “You could just tell me if you guys aren’t good enough. I mean you need to be pretty good to actually teach something so…” 

The three boys just stared at him, all with some shock showing on their face. The funniest thing to Nagisa was Terasaka mixing that shock with anger. To be fair, he had just insulted him a little. It was for a greater cause though. 

Not that Hazama holding back laughter wasn’t great, too. 

Terasaka’s eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward slightly as he looked Nagisa straight in the eye as he spoke, “Oh you’re on, Nagisa.” 

That’s how Nagisa ended up in an empty studio with the same company, after he somehow managed to convince Hazama to actually learn with him. She’d been against it at first but eventually agreed it would, at the very least, be funny and give her time to hang out with the squad after class more. Nagisa didn’t feel too hurt about her only thinking of her extra time with the squad and not about the time she’d get with him too. 

They’re going over some basic movements, most of which Nagisa recognized from the combinations Korosensei had given them in the previous E group practice. But then, those were already combined with other moves, and they really did feel different when stood by itself. 

Honestly, Nagisa felt he looked a little stupid. He was so used to trying to look graceful and make movements appear as light as possible, this was very different. Terasaka commented on it, too. His harsh words on his technique didn’t exactly make Nagisa feel better about it. After an hour of taking it in and listening to the feedback, however, he really did feel he was improving ever so slightly. 

“Not bad for a ballerina.” Terasaka told him and Hazama as they changed shoes again afterwards. “Though I think Hazama looked a little too uninterested, and Nagisa, well, you look like you’re making a math test or something. But both of you do okay, because we _are_ good enough to teach.” 

He was definitely still trying to prove his point, but Nagisa appreciated his efforts nonetheless. They all agreed to get together again in their free period the next day. Apparently, the squad did kind of like working together like this, because all of them seemed eager to have another session. 

Everyone left the studio, but before Nagisa could move to walk home, someone grabbed his arm. When he was pulled towards the person he was a little taken back by the fact that it was Terasaka. He wasn’t really sure why he of all people would want to talk to him. He just hoped Terasaka wasn’t secretly angry with him about his comment and about to show that anger to Nagisa. 

“You’re serious about this?” Terasaka asked, surprising him. 

Nagisa nodded. It was the truth. He really wanted to do the showcase, and, after this hip hop session, he really did feel it was possible and that he could even enjoy it a little. 

“Well, I was thinking that, if you were serious about mixing ballet and hip hop and you wanted to show it, I could always teach you a little more of an extreme move.” Nagisa couldn’t help but be intrigued by that. 

**Act 1 part 3**

They kept their individual practice going for little over a week, and Nagisa was starting to feel a little more confident about it. He and Terasaka had spent enough time figuring out how on earth Nagisa had to jump without clearly looking like a ballerina doing so. In his attempts to do tricks, he’d fallen over enough times for Hazama to see those hours as great entertainment. 

Their group may be starting to get a little enthusiastic about the whole trying new things idea, but the rest of the E group didn’t seem too into it. Nagisa was kind of glad they hadn’t told anyone about what they were doing yet. The way their class was sending glances at Isogai, who was showing Maehara and Okano some moves he’d practiced himself, were not meant as friendly in Nagisa’s eyes. 

He really didn’t want the group’s attention like that, especially for something so unimportant. Or, rather, something he wasn’t actually that good in. 

After class Nagisa collected his stuff and made his way over to Kayano who, for once, actually had time to hang out with him. She’d told him she wanted to practice some stuff for her next class and needed a guy for lifting. Nagisa wasn’t sure why she’d ask _him_ to do any lifting, he wasn’t exactly strong. 

In reality, it was probably the reason he ended up in the E group for the showcase. As much as his teachers complimented his precision, a male dancer not properly lifting their female partner wasn’t always as useful in many dances. He would most likely end up being a bother to the B group’s choreography. 

Nagisa opened his mouth to address Kayano, but before he could, someone behind him suddenly spoke up and made him jump ever so slightly. “Hey, heard _you_ have been trying new stuff.” 

When Nagisa turned around he felt his mouth go dry as he finally realized it was in fact Karma that was speaking to him. For a few seconds, he didn’t say anything, he wasn’t sure what to. He really wanted to talk, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk about what Karma was probably referring to. 

“I mean I- what do you mean?” He asked, having an obvious suspicion. His eyes scanned his surroundings really quickly, and he saw they’d caught a few people’s attention. 

“What, you think you can go into studios with the dumb squad and no one will notice?” Karma raised an eyebrow. Defeated, Nagisa cursed his own hope of secrecy. “You’re not telling me you of all people are trying to learn a new dance. You have never even done anything other than ballet, and now you think you can suddenly learn hip hop at age 19?” 

Nagisa felt a little at a loss for words. He hadn’t interpreted the situation like that. His mind really had only focused on wanting to dance and some interest in what their teacher had envisioned. Judging by the looks on people’s faces around him, that wasn’t enough. 

“I just- I just figured I should try, I mean I want to dance at-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence. 

“You want to embarrass yourself?” Karma’s voice took Nagisa back a little. “I’m not one to judge you for trying new things, Nagisa, but literally no one in class wants to do this style mixing thing. Who are you to decide it must be tried? You’re not the only one performing.” 

All Nagisa could do was stare at him. He didn’t have any reply to Karma, other than something he’d probably end up repeating over and over again, and that would get no one anywhere. Finally, other people started to interact too. This wasn’t necessarily better for Nagisa, seeing as it turned out they weren’t really on his side. 

“Is that true Nagisa?” Kayano asked him, her head tilted in confusion. She might feel bad that Nagisa never told him. 

“Literally none of us want to do this dance, why are you…?” He heard Kimura ask him. 

“Honestly, no point in doing any of this.” Nakamura added as well. 

More people started talking, stating their opinion on the matter. Not very surprising to Nagisa, most were negative. This was why he wanted to keep it secret, and perhaps why he’d felt uncertain about it in the first place. He knew he had to speak up, their teacher was gone, and he was already singled out as it was anyways. 

He took a deep breath and raised his voice, making sure everyone would hear. “I really think it’s possible.” 

People were looking at him, and though he didn’t particularly like it, he stood his ground, hoping someone would be on his side. As it turned out, no one was. Not even Terasaka and his squad spoke up. At that moment, surrounded by his fellow students, Nagisa started to really doubt what he was doing. 

\---------------------------------------

“Classical walking… and… move weight to-” Nagisa mumbled to himself as he followed directions from his own voice. Usually, he wouldn’t talk to himself that much during practice, but sometimes frustration causes people to act differently. 

He shifted his weight, trying to keep his stance somewhat elegant as he bent his knees and attempted to turn on the ball of his foot. The moment he turned, he felt like an idiot and, irritated by himself, stopped entirely. Nothing that he was doing looked elegant like ballet, nor did it look cool like the streetdance moves Terasaka had shown him. 

Discontent with even the way his walking looked, he glared at himself in the studio mirror. There was no one else in the room, and he felt that meant he shouldn’t feel pressured and should rather _just do it_. He wasn’t sure why it was so hard for him. He jumped high enough for these tricks for ballet moves, and he definitely had control over his own body, there shouldn’t be anything limiting him from doing the move he was trying to do. 

He started to really hate the mirror’s presence in the room. Seeing himself fail and look like an idiot… it wasn’t very encouraging. Switching from ballet to hip hop was hard, but focusing solely on the latter felt wrong. He moved his hands behind him to brace himself for a jump, but halted himself again the moment he noticed how weak his arms looked in his reflection. 

He turned around, no longer facing the mirror. No longer facing himself. 

Though he had only been practicing in the studio by himself for about fifteen minutes, he had failed several times already. It was a little too depressing to count and so he hadn’t. He knew he was failing, and it would only hurt his ego to know just how badly he was doing so. 

Just the backflip. He’d focus on just doing the backflip, no ballet moves proceeding it or anything, it wasn’t the right time to focus on grace just yet. Without thinking much more about it, he threw his hands and hips back, a countermovement to create momentum for his jump. A focused look came over his eyes, and before he knew it, his arms moved, he jumped, and he threw himself back, tucking in his knees. 

And then, he fell. _Hard_. 

He cursed out loud as his ass hit the floor, and he immediately moved his hand to where the pain was most present. Right after his foul word, a hiss escaped his mouth, and he resisted the urge to lay down on the floor. 

With everything he had, he hoped he hadn’t fallen on his tailbone. He just _knew_ that would be bothering him for a while. It would definitely be making dancing harder on him, and he really couldn’t have that. He managed to get up and walked in a small circle, trying to figure out the origin of the pain and how permanent it would be. 

A sigh escaped his lips as he figured he’d find out with time. He was about to start doing some last stretches to end his practice for the day, not feeling too optimistic about what he’d achieved, when he heard the door open behind him. Curious to see who came in, he turned around to see Korosensei standing in the door. 

His teacher was smiling at him, but Nagisa didn’t really have the energy to return the gesture. Instead, he waved at him slightly before moving to the bar to do the stretching he’d planned. He’d already fallen rather hard, he didn’t need sore muscles too. 

“You’ve been practicing hard.” Korosensei noted, walking up to Nagisa without being very bothered by Nagisa’s silent treatment. 

In response Nagisa just nodded. He really didn’t have much to say. It wasn’t like his teacher was going to see how much he’d failed the previous minutes, and he didn’t really feel like bringing it up either. What could he say? He was starting to think he may not actually be able to do what he’d been trying to. It was a little depressing. 

“I’m honestly really proud,” Korosensei continued, “not giving up easily, putting in the hours. If the rest of the students had any doubts they should just see this. It’s- It’s perhaps even a little inspiring that you can just do it and-” 

“What if I can’t.” Nagisa turned his head rather quickly so he was looking his teacher in the eyes. His words started to get under his skin, and he honestly didn’t feel well about it. 

For a moment, Korosensei was quiet, before he scraped his throat and spoke up again. “What do you mean you can’t? You’re doing it now, aren’t you?” He genuinely seemed surprised by Nagisa’s reaction, he’d even taken a step back at how snappy Nagisa’s comment was. 

Nagisa rolled his eyes. Usually he would feel it was rude, but many things overcame him at once, and he honestly wasn’t sure why he was reacting like he was anymore. When he looked forward he saw himself in the mirror again, and he wondered how on earth Korosensei didn’t see what was going on right in front of him. Not just with Nagisa, but with all the other students, and with the academy. 

“I’m not doing it anymore,” He declared, knowing it was a disappointment to his teacher. He didn’t care much about that at that moment. “It’s so… useless. Everyone disagrees with doing this and- And even Terasaka, who’s been teaching me, doesn’t see any of this as, well, something we’d actually perform. I _can’t do_ these moves, and, quite frankly, it’s making me feel horrible to try. 

“This show’s just going to fail like every other year, and I guess failing here now means I won’t have to try failing on stage.” 

Without really finishing up what he was doing, he moved away from the bar and quickly grabbed his stuff, changing his shoes quicker and more frustratingly than he’d ever had. Somehow the situation felt even worse than leaving his audition watching most other dancers getting asked for an interview with the choreographer, and his only reward being an unbearable drive home with his mother. 

The moment his shoes were on and his bag was thrown over his shoulder, he walked straight for the door. He was about to walk out when he decided he should probably leave a clearer note for his teacher. He looked over his shoulder, saw his teacher looking at him with concern showing in his eyes, and said what he thought to be the clearest way to express his thoughts. 

“Maybe when all your dancers don’t want to work with you, it’s a sign.” 

\------------------------

Now that Nagisa had given up, Korosensei wasn’t exactly sure what to do next. The whole point was for one person to succeed and for the other students to see that and try doing the same. Perhaps he did handle everything a little rash, he barely considered why he chose Nagisa. 

The truth was, he knew Nagisa was easy to convince. In a way, Korosensei felt he was trying to use him to get his way, which wasn’t very good teacher behaviour, in hindsight. He wanted to apologize to him, but he wasn’t sure that would do much. It still wouldn’t get the E group to perform. Perhaps their performance really was doomed. 

He was on his way to confer with other teachers again, somehow that had ended up being his only way of dealing with things. He wasn’t sure why, seeing as most of them hadn’t been very helpful last time he tried. Actually, all of them were rather negative. That stopped him again. Maybe he wouldn’t be talking to his colleagues again. He didn't want to end up being more negative than he already was about the whole situation. 

When he passed a studio window, he couldn’t help but look inside for a moment. The afternoon jazz class had started, apparently, and Korosensei recognized some of his own students. Specifically, Chiba and Hayami stood out to him. 

The two of them were practicing what seemed like a duet. Korosensei was slightly mesmerized by the way the two balanced each other out. The moment both of them leaned back, arching their backs, but hung on to each other for balance, it became so clear how well the two of them trusted each other and worked together. They looked each other in the eye again, as far as that was possible with Chiba’s haircut, and Korosensei felt the energy coming from them through the window. He’d barely paid any attention to the duo during their practice. If only he’d known how well these two worked together. 

Hayami moved away from Chiba, and what followed was a turning jump. Korosensei, of course, recognized this move. It was most familiar to him in a ballet setting, but he knew jazz and ballet had many things in common too. It made him wonder why the students were so against other styles. Throughout history, all these dances had already been mixing anyways. Perhaps it wasn’t always as visible, but there was so much overlap between certain dances. Some dances derived from other dances too. 

Eventually, he moved away from the window. He walked up to the next classroom and did the same as he had with Chiba and Hayami, he observed. A hip hop class was going on, and, yet again, there were several familiar faces. He watched Nakamura pop and lock, slightly laughing it off as she did so. The image of Nakamura in Irina’s pole dancing class came to mind. 

She already learned more dances. From what he gathered from her files, she also took tango classes. There were many differences between hip hop and tango, and definitely with pole dancing. She already had a nice variety in her repertoire, there was no reason she wasn’t capable of combining them. 

The next classroom he watched Yada practice tap and remembered her skill at capoeira. And Sugaya, who was currently in a latin dancing class but talked quite a bit about how much he liked the interpretive dancing period in his contemporary classes. Korosensei truly believed both of them were capable of doing so much more. 

As it turned out, many of his students had taken up more dance styles, if only a few classes. It was an impressive and admirable thing, how much they could do, yet they didn’t seem confident about it at all. He just knew one of these students had to not be insecure about that stuff and do whatever they wanted with dance. 

Actually, there probably was a right person to talk to. He wanted to mentally slap himself for dragging Nagisa into this, who wasn’t the most confident person at all and definitely the wrong choice for what he wanted. What he needed was the one person who did what he wanted, danced as he desired to, and would be plainly honest to his fellow students about what he was doing. 

Korosensei knew exactly who he had to talk to. 

**Act 1 Part 4**

When Korosensei rehearsed his talk with Karma in his head earlier that day, he had run past many hypothetical situations. Karma knew how to be a nuisance to people and Korosensei figured he would be up to his usual antics. Korosensei was prepared for enormous amounts of sarcasm, the chance of things flying through the room, being ignored, and even being threatened. 

Not even in the deepest, darkest part of his mind had he imagined to be talking to a Karma that just wouldn’t stop tap dancing as they talked. 

“Karma, I would never try to take precious practice time from any of my students, but I really want to have an actual conversation with you.” Korosensei sighed, unwilling to be anything but patient with his student, as to maintain a proper student teacher relationship. “Your dancing is… keeping you preoccupied from doing so.” 

As an answer, Karma shrugged, and kept dancing. “I’m talking just fine, I’d say.” 

Korosensei tried his hardest to drown out the clicking noises of Karma’s shoes as he looked his student in the eye. Even that was a little hard, seeing as he wasn’t standing still at all. At the very least he was tapping in place. 

“I just want to ask you why you’re _so against_ what I’m trying to do with the group.” He finally managed to ask. 

“Easy,” Karma said, doing a paradiddle before continuing to talk. “I don’t think people can do it. Everyone’s going to look stupid.” 

That answer wasn’t very satisfactory to Korosensei. He also couldn’t accept any of Karma’s answers as long as he kept tap dancing. He _knew_ Karma was just trying to agitate him, and he hated how well it was working. Every click-clack sound only furthered his upcoming headache. Perhaps Karma’s intentions were becoming true, he sort of wanted to leave said student behind and just not deal with him, but he knew he really had to. 

No matter how annoying all the tapping noises were. 

“Why can’t they do it? You yourself have studied so many dances, successfully too, from what I hear, and, well, see,” He gestured towards Karma’s tap dancing. “Many more students practice a lot of dances, and they definitely have the potential of mixing those up and perhaps even learning more. What’s _really_ holding you back from doing this mixing project?” 

The room fell quiet. Karma had stopped his dancing and was now looking slightly to the ground. It was a little odd, and sudden, and Korosensei wasn’t sure what was going on. The mood in the room had changed very quickly as Karma’s teasingful tap had stopped and was replaced by a loaded silence. 

It was unlike what he’d experienced with Karma up until that point. Of course, he’d always trusted there was more to Akabane Karma than just a slight ego and a lot of teasing. Somehow, this topic brought on a different side of him. He wanted to ask him about it, but before he could, Karma was already talking. 

“Do you know how often I tried to do new things with dance and somehow ended up getting punished for it?” Karma started. “You’d think that with dancing being an art and all, experimenting would be appreciated. Well, I can tell you, not at this academy, nor at many other prestigious places. Competitions get you disqualified or put you dead last for doing something different or unique. And with these showcases, all you get is an infamous reputation.

“As unbelievable as it may be to you, I’d _love_ to mix styles and perform. I’ve tried it before and look where that got me, E group. So, yeah, I don’t trust this plan to work, because it hasn’t worked for me before.” 

Korosensei was a little taken aback. He really hadn’t expected such an honest answer from Karma. If what he was saying was the truth, then he had every right to doubt Korosensei’s plan for the E group. It still didn’t sit right with him, because there was still some margin of success possible. 

“Karma, I believe that you have every right to feel how you feel, but…” Korosensei thought about his words well, not wanting this to be the moment he ruined everything. “Things aren’t the same way as they were when you were doing this alone. I have a group of 26 other wonderful students, who can do so much more when working together than just you standing alone on a stage. I need you to have trust in them too, and then, maybe, help me with this, because I know we can make this work, with your help.” 

Karma still looked at him with a doubtful look in his eyes. 

\-------------------------

Since pretty much everyone refused to come to practice at this point, the studio the E group had been assigned was empty, and Nagisa took that as a chance to practice a ballet routine he needed to know for yet another audition his mother had gotten him. He still hadn’t heard anything from the previous one, which generally speaking meant he wasn’t going to get a callback. Focussing on the next audition distracted him from that failure. 

He took out his day to day pigtails and combed through his hair with his fingers, smoothening it out only to bring it back together into a single low ponytail, using the room mirror to try and do it as neatly as possible. Many people had told him a bun would be much more practical with his long hair, but something about that didn’t sit right with Nagisa. Every practice he was in, all the female ballet dancers wore buns. Of course, most other male dancers didn’t have long hair like him. That didn’t mean he wanted to blend in with the women even more than he already did with his physique. 

For the audition, he’d been asked to bring an original piece, which Nagisa knew he had enough of. In the end, however, he really felt he should do one he’d been taught earlier that year at the academy. One of his teachers had taught him a solo that came with a lot of technique and difficulty and would thus be perfect for an audition where he’d need to show off just that. 

Before he could doubt himself, he pressed play on the music and got into his starting position. Somehow, he knew he remembered the entire choreography. 

He moved through the room, trying to listen to the music as he’d been told many times, but as usual resorted to thinking about his steps and counts very carefully. Ballet, to him, was very much about the technique. It was probably why he couldn’t do hip hop that well, it just didn’t have that structure. 

He wasn’t used to the type of freedom that came with that dance in any way whatsoever. 

As the music faded to a faster part of the piece, he prepared himself and, with much focus on his balance, did a pirouette. He could feel very well the way his hair moved along with him, but he wasn’t bothered by it. If anything, that was normal. The only thing bothering his mind as he spun was the thought of ending in the pose after correctly. 

His counts ended, still matching the music, and he ended his pirouette to come to the pose he was so familiar with. One hand pointed slightly up and one thrown behind him, but never too far from his body to make it look awkward. What did make him awkward, however, was that he only now noticed someone standing in the doorway, looking at him with his arms crossed as he was leaning against the doorframe. 

The music continued, but Nagisa’s arms fell to his side and he quickly returned to a more comfortable stance. He wasn’t really in the mood to dance with Karma watching him do so. Instead, he just returned Karma’s look, unsure what to say. 

“You don’t need to stop for me.” Karma eventually raised the palms of his hands as if he were surrendering, but Nagisa could hear the teasing tone in his voice. 

“I was hoping to practice in ease, by myself…” Nagisa managed to say, avoiding eye contact with the other boy. “Kind of needed it.” 

Without any warning, Karma walked into the room and past him, to the stereo set. He started looking through CD’s, without really explaining why. With a sigh, Nagisa walked over too, pausing the music he’d been dancing to. He took a moment to look at Karma, who wasn’t showing any signs that he would be leaving any time soon. 

“This is technically an open space to anyone in E group, so I _can_ actually be here.” Karma friendly reminded him. Nagisa took this as a sign to just ignore him and keep practicing, seeing as Karma wasn’t exactly preparing himself to dance anyways. 

He restarted the song and started his dance the same way he’d done before, beginning the counting in his head all over again. As he did the same pirouette he felt himself completely emerged in the dance all over again, no longer bothered by the other presence in the room. This time when he ended in his pose, he had no issues moving his arms and going into his steps. 

With a deep breath he mentally prepared himself for the upcoming Grand Jeté, every moment where he’d ever fallen when attempting to do one coming to his mind as per usual. Even if he was in that room by himself he’d feel a little anxious about it. All he could do was hope he could match the jump with the music. 

Finally going for it, he ran up, gathering enough speed and force to get himself in the air. He took the last step and threw his hands up to create the momentum, when, suddenly, the music changed. He stumbled forwards, never making it into his jump, but at least kept himself from falling on his face. He stopped to stare at Karma, who was standing next to the stereo set with a wide grin on his face, now playing _Nicki Minaj_. 

He recognized Nicki Minaj _only_ because Karma had forced him to listen to her music before. Personally, he wasn’t the biggest fan, but he did think she had some very catchy songs. However, those songs were not very fitting seeing as he was practicing _ballet_. 

“Seriously?” Nagisa let out, not hiding his annoyance from the other boy in the room. 

Said boy seemed pretty pleased with himself, however. He shrugged casually in response. “Good song to dance to, I mean…” Nagisa didn’t like the look in his eyes. “The song’s correct, you’ve got buns, hun.” Yeah, he definitely didn’t like that. 

It wasn’t that Nagisa wasn’t used to antics like this from Karma, they just never failed to disappoint him. He walked over to the stereo and took out Karma’s CD, making an attempt to do so calmly. Giving Karma the pleasure of seeing his frustration wasn’t on top of Nagisa’s list of things he wanted to achieve that day. 

Luckily, his own CD was still lying there. After having attempted to do the dance twice, his motivation was a little low, as was his stamina. Chances were, Karma would keep interrupting him. He just hoped not reacting to him would bore him out and get him to leave. And so, he put on his song once more. 

He knew his beginning position was sloppy, his energy was starting to get low. It wasn’t just Karma’s interruptions bothering him anymore, it was him being there. Where he’d been immersed in the dance and his steps before, he couldn’t find his focus at all this time. At the very least, he tried to do all his moves technically correct. 

It was a surprise to him that he managed to get to the Grand Jeté this time, even nailing the execution of it. He wasn’t sure why he did it, but he felt himself looking at Karma the moment he landed it. Karma, who was apparently just watching him this time, had a curious look in his eyes. He couldn’t say it was a look he’d seen on Karma a lot. 

A smile appeared on his own face. He somewhat liked the way Karma was looking at him. 

He moved on from another turn he did, making slow movements back to the middle of the room, when he saw Karma move in the corner of his eyes. Though his face wasn’t supposed to be turned in that particular direction at all, he couldn’t help but turn a little to look at what Karma was doing. 

It was absolutely ridiculous. What he saw as he turned his head was Karma doing _the running man_ of all things, somewhat sticking to the melody of the ballet piece still playing. And, before Nagisa could continue to think on how stupid that looked, Karma switched and started to pump it, making him look like a child at his first kid’s disco or something. 

He didn’t mean to, but a little laugh escaped him. His hand moved to cover his mouth and he tried to regain his posture, but the correctness of his arabesque in contrast with Karma’s shitty moves kept a smile on his face. 

Neither of them stopped dancing. Somehow, the two of them ended up dancing circles around each other, Nagisa sticking to ballet and Karma moving from his odd hip hop moves to more ballet-like moves as Nagisa’s, until eventually Karma had switched entirely and suddenly took Nagisa’s hand and spun him around as if he were the ballerina of the two. 

It was just like things had been when the two first met, back in ballet class when they’d just started at the academy. Oddly enough, there had been quite a few guys in their class, and due to circumstances, and Karma’s rebelling nature, he and Karma had ended up as dance partners. Nagisa didn’t particularly mind, he really liked dancing with Karma. 

If anything, he liked that he and Karma got to hang out so much because of class. Karma was one of the coolest dancers he’d met, who could do just about anything. Nagisa could name any dance style that came to mind and Karma would have, at the very least, had classes in it. Usually, he ended up being really good at it immediately too. Though Nagisa stuck with ballet very well, he always aspired to be as carefree as Karma was. 

And he danced so well, even in ballet. On any other day, he’d hate being the one lifted in a dance, but when Karma did it he couldn’t help but feel special. It felt right to dance with Karma. It did back then, and it still did now. 

The place where Karma put his hands as he lifted Nagisa into his leap felt warm, even after Karma let go the moment Nagisa landed. As the warmth there lingered, his fingers brushed past Nagisa’s arm. Though the touch was brief, it left behind a lot of feelings for Nagisa. He just wanted to make another turn and get Karma to hold him in a pose. 

He went for a Penché, bending forward and slowly raising his leg in the air as he did, as technical as ever. Without being interrupted from his flow, Karma moved in front of him and knelt down to support Nagisa in his pose. They looked in each other’s eyes and, though neither had coordinated it, they simultaneously started smiling at each other. Even as Nagisa moved away, that smile didn’t disappear from his face. 

Neither discussed their next move as they danced with and around each other, yet they seemed in unison the entire time. Somehow, they didn’t _need_ to talk to understand each other. They were matched very well and didn’t even need choreography to lead them. 

He finished a last turn and ended up in Karma’s arms, though not in a traditional ballet pose. Rather, it felt like Karma was holding him, embracing him even. Nagisa didn’t want him to stop doing that. He felt heat throughout his entire body now, but he wasn’t sure what that meant. 

“I missed you,” Nagisa let out, not thinking very well before speaking, but rather just blurting it out. He felt the heat rise to his cheeks and he figured he must have turned quite red. For his own sake, he avoided looking in the direction of the room’s mirror. “I mean- I missed dancing with you, I- this… I missed this.” 

In return, Karma just let out a tiny laugh, something close to a smirk. He was trying to act casual, but Nagisa spotted the slight red in his cheeks. 

“I mean it,” Nagisa said, looking Karma in the eyes. “I mean I- I always wondered- I mean I missed… I really loved dancing with you, and I thought you- I thought you felt the same?” 

“I did.” Karma nodded. 

He probably wasn’t lying, Nagisa realized that. Perhaps, for a while, Karma had actually enjoyed their ballet classes and all the dances they did together. But the reality was, Karma had quit, hadn’t even finished the year, and started following other classes instead. He got bored of ballet, and probably of Nagisa too. 

Reluctantly, Nagisa moved away a little. He only took a little step back, but because Karma’s arms weren’t around him anymore, it felt like much more distance was created. Nagisa was still looking up at Karma, obviously. 

“Then… why did you quit?” Nagisa asked, though still very unsure if he really wanted to hear the answer. Even as they were talking at that very moment, he heard a voice in his head say that Karma would probably get bored again and go to the next new thing he could find. 

Karma, as an answer, took ahold of Nagisa’s hands. Nagisa looked down at them for a moment, in confusion, before looking up and in Karma’s eyes again. An uncharacteristically honest look was shining in his eyes. Nagisa would be lying if he said seeing that look didn’t make him feel curious. 

“It’s not important, we can try something else together this time.” 


	2. Act 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story continues. The E group decides to dance.

****

**Act 2 Part 1**

Nagisa was sitting down on the floor cross legged next to Kayano and Sugino, who were discussing the reason they came to class that day. Oddly enough, Korosensei had gotten everyone to come to class with his message. All it said was that they needed to have an urgent talk about the plausibility of the E group performance happening. 

“He’s probably just going to announce the whole forfeiting procedure for the showcase,” Kayano concluded, mostly talking to Sugino, because Nagisa hadn’t been participating in the conversation much. Rather, he was looking around for Karma. “It was about time, to be honest.” 

Something had to be up, Nagisa just knew. Karma had told him to show up for class that day, but he wasn’t even there himself. He also still hadn’t explained what exactly they would be trying out together, but, judging by his behaviour, it had something to do with the E group. All he could do was wait for him to show up, and Korosensei, too, apparently. Neither of them had made an appearance just yet. 

Just when he was about to speak up, both of them entered the room together, in the middle of discussing something. Everyone seemed confused, but the two of them didn’t seem to mind. Karma, actually, took a moment to wave at Nagisa without changing the smile on his face, as he and Korosensei came to a halt in front of the group. Nagisa waved back, still looking at him in confusion. 

He saw Kayano giving him a curious look and quickly put his hand back down. He sent her an awkward smile and focused back on Korosensei, hoping he’d start explaining. The class did the same. 

“Right, students, I know all of you will have some expectations about today’s class,” Korosensei started, and most students started looking at each other with knowing looks. It didn’t seem like Korosensei was going to give in to their expectations to Nagisa. “So about that… I’m not one to give up, and I definitely will not give up on any of my students. 

Truth be told, I had a hard time understanding you guys, which, as an educator, I’m disappointed in myself about. That was a mistake on my behalf. It’s okay to be scared, or just nervous, it happens. You’re all young and full of insecurities. If I had understood all of this sooner I could have perhaps acted better. But I’m here now, ready to take action, and I’m not doing that alone.” 

It was then that Karma stepped forward, a hand put on his hip with, what Nagisa assumed to be, self-confidence. Nagisa did  _ not _ recognize himself in that attitude, but he had to admit Karma looked a little cute that way. Judging by the people around him, the class didn’t agree because they were more or less stunned as a general reaction. That didn’t change Karma’s mood, however. 

Korosensei continued talking, now gesturing at Karma slightly. “So I asked Karma here for some help. What  _ I _ think you guys need is a different type of experience with trying something new. So, that is exactly what we’re doing. Karma is going to take over today’s class.” 

Everyone wanted to complain, but within a short amount of time Korosensei had shushed everyone and forced them to listen to Karma. Karma, obviously, was enjoying the power he was getting. 

“Oh and I’d like all of you to meet Ritsu!” Korosensei quickly fumbled as he set a tablet down against the mirror. “She’s a dance AI who will be helping you by analyzing your dancing! She’s really smart and honestly, the perfect way to improve.” 

Ritsu, a cute pink haired girl that appeared on the tablet screen, did a little twirl for them and presented a smile. Everyone stared at her, perplexed, unsure what to make of the digital girl. “I’m looking forward to working with all of you!” 

“An AI… is that… cheating?” 

“Is she like Hatsune Miku?!” 

“I wouldn’t mind seeing her in one of Miku’s short skirts.” 

There was a noise of someone being kicked, and Korosensei quickly told everyone to be silent again. He announced that class would be continuing, and that Ritsu should be respected. He eyed Okajima as he said the last bit. 

It wasn’t unreasonable, to Nagisa, to feel a little bit of fear for what was about to happen. He just hoped Karma had this lesson planned out well and knew what he was doing, and how he’d get  _ everyone _ to do something new within the timespan they had that day. As it turned out, their class wasn’t easy to impress. He must have thought of some dance to inspire  _ everyone, _ and possibly keep them challenged and entertained with it too. 

So, Nagisa was a little surprised when he pulled out the cowboy hat. 

“Well,” Karma said, tipping the cowboy hat he was now wearing. “Today… We’re all going to be doing a bit of line dancing to let loose a little, mostly because Korosensei said pole dancing wasn’t possible in the studio we have, nor very appropriate.” 

Before anyone could really criticize him, Korosensei gave them an uncharacteristically stern look. And so Karma forced everyone to line up and put his CD in the stereo, still portraying the same cocky smile on his face. He seemed genuinely pleased with what was going on. Nagisa had to admit, the moment  _ 5, 6, 7, 8  _ by  _ Steps _ started playing, and all the professionally dressed dancers looked around like fish out of the water, he recognized where Karma got his amusement. Sadly for him, he himself was also a waterless fish. 

“Don’t worry I picked something a little more upbeat and easy for all of you,” Karma announced, but everyone was already paying enough attention to the music as it was. He went and stood in front of the group, facing the mirror to ensure everyone could see his moves. “All you have to do is follow my lead.” 

And so he started dancing, looking at the class through the mirror and announcing his moves to them. It wasn’t a very hard dance, and, all things considered, Nagisa definitely preferred this over  _ pole dancing _ . Still, he did feel insecure about the way he moved along to Karma. He feared to call what he was doing ‘dancing’. 

“And hands on the hips and- go through those knees Terasaka! I thought obeying was, like, your forte?” Karma called into Terasaka’s direction, who wasn’t at all pleased to be doing what he was doing. At least he, and the rest of the class, were somewhat moving along with Karma. Probably mostly because their teacher was forcing them, and reminding them any time they stopped moving. Nagisa figured Korosensei wasn’t having an easy time, either. 

He understood that they needed some enthusiasm, but Nagisa doubted  _ line dancing, _ of all things, would be the method to achieve that. What stood out most about the situation, to Nagisa, was that Karma apparently came up with the idea, so at least he must like it. Sure, Karma’s taste was… something else, but Nagisa always considered it to just be special, not bad. He looked at Karma, trying to listen to the song Karma had their class dance to. 

_ “ _ _ My rodeo Romeo, a cowboy god from head to toe~” _

He felt heat rise to his cheeks as he looked Karma in the eye when he heard those lyrics. Karma returned Nagisa’s startled look by tipping his cowboy hat. Of course, Nagisa wanted nothing more than to look away, but he kind of liked seeing how much Karma was enjoying himself. For some reason, Karma looked genuinely happy when he was line dancing. Somehow Nagisa never knew that. All he ever thought about was that he no longer enjoyed ballet, where Nagisa was. 

In front of him, he heard Yada let out a soft giggle as she copied the weird kicks Karma was doing. Beside her, Kataoka shook her head in disappointment and even rolled her eyes a little. They weren’t necessarily complaining, however. 

Korosensei’s AI, Ritsu, definitely wasn’t bothered by the country music playing in the room. The outfit she wore actually changed, a cowboy hat and boots were now added and she could be seen happily skipping along with them. Nagisa didn’t think it looked too much like she was analyzing their dancing, but he wasn’t an expert on AI’s. He studied dance, not computer science. 

“Don’t forget to use your heels as well in these kicks!” Karma encouraged, “This isn’t ballet. Yes Nagisa, I’m calling  _ you _ out too.” 

Nagisa jumped slightly at being called out like that and quickly tried to improve the kicks he was doing. All the moves felt unnatural to him, very different from how he and Karma had been dancing only a day earlier. He honestly wished he was doing ballet again, for comfort reasons. 

Nagisa noted how the next move took a lot of chest movement and somewhat related it to a hip hop move Terasaka had taught him not too long ago. When he looked in the mirror he thought he actually didn’t look too bad doing it. Judging by the way Karma was smiling at him as he looked at him via the mirror, that thought was at least a little correct. 

The chorus repeated itself and when Nagisa looked to his left he saw Kayano getting kind of into it. In response to that, Kanzaki had started laughing a little and joined in on her enthusiasm. Actually, when he looked in the mirror to watch the entire class, he saw that basically the entire class had a smile on their face and many were dancing with joy shining through. Even Terasaka looked entertained! Some people still had issues energetically following the steps, but they at least seemed more happy to be there than they were before. 

This time he wasn’t really embarrassed about the lyrics. Well, he was a little, it was a bit cheesy and not entirely his taste. However, he supposed the lyrics had a certain light message in there. 

_ “Wanna make you mine, better get in line~”  _

He changed the type of smile he’d been sending at Karma, adding what one might consider a little playfulness into it. Karma hesitated in his movement a little, seeming a little surprised, and then finally regained his senses. He winked at Nagisa. Holding back more, Nagisa let out a tiny laugh and looked away. 

Eventually a non-repeated part of the song started and Karma made everyone link arms, to which some people nearly fell over because their movements didn’t exactly match. No one really got angry or annoyed, rather the room is filled with tons of laughter and Nagisa finds himself joining in. Even Korosensei, who had only been watching before, had joined in on the fun. Surely, they all looked like idiots, but for once, Nagisa didn’t mind looking a little odd. 

Even Karma looked ridiculous at this point. He had his arms hooked with Terasaka on one side and Kurahashi, who had apparently stolen Karma’s cowboy hat to wear for herself, on the other. He, too, was laughing his ass off. Nagisa thought of it very nicely, it wasn’t every day that he got to see Karma actually being social and having fun like that. As cool as he tried to act, he knew Karma hated social contact like this. Perhaps even Karma was learning something with this class. 

The moment everyone let go again to repeat the chorus was pure chaos. No one was standing in the same place as they were before and it took a moment for everyone to join in on the actual dance moves again. As the chorus repeated for the last time, Nagisa thought they all looked pretty great doing it. At the ending pose, no one cared that much. Rather, everyone just turned to their friends and started laughing, or they were out of breath of doing so. 

“Now, now, class.” Korosensei appeared in front of them again, portraying the same smile his students had. Even he was a little red in the face from all the shenanigans that had just occurred. “I hope you all enjoyed your new experience and I just- I just wanna say I couldn’t be happier with how this went. Even if you weren’t on beat or aware of what you were supposed to do, you at least looked like you had a good time. And  _ that _ is what dancing is supposed to feel like.” 

He had the entire class’s attention now. As much as anyone still wanted to share their funny thoughts with their friends, they were quiet and listened to their teacher first. Korosensei was beaming when he figured that out. 

“I’ll be honest with you, line dancing would not be seen as a performance at this school, as great as you guys looked doing it,” He continued, a little more serious. “But it’s dancing, and that’s what this school needs to see. We are not going to be all about  _ those rules _ . We could be different, and look amazing while doing so. Our limited time right now might be an issue, we wasted quite some classes, but...

We can still perform and show this academy that something different can be something amazing.” 

No one disagreed with him. In fact, to Nagisa, it seemed like his fellow students were more enthusiastic to dance than he’d ever seen them be. He himself felt the same. Perhaps he really had forgotten the joy of dancing. Ballet felt like home, all the rules and technique making it easy to deconstruct. However, he didn’t really put his heart into it. He, and all of his classmates, really wanted to do that now. 

\-------------------------------

After they’d spent the rest of their class discussing choreography options, Nagisa was dead tired and ready to go home for the day. He knew he had another individual class that evening, from outside of the academy, but he figured that was a problem for later. He could most likely fit in a nap somewhere before dinner. 

Kayano was excitedly telling him about the treat she was going to give herself (some dessert, of course) as they gathered their stuff and got ready to leave. After Kayano’s third attempt at pronouncing some french dessert name, Nagisa held back from laughing a little at her. She didn’t seem to mind too much, just joined in with an embarrassed laugh. 

“Was I a good rodeo Romeo?” Karma, who had suddenly appeared behind him, whispered in his ear. Nagisa jumped and tried very hard not to look too embarrassed as he tried to push Karma off, even though he was way too weak for that. That didn’t stop Karma from giving him his teasing smile. 

As much as Nagisa wanted to make Karma stop with his teasing, what he’d just done for the class had truly worked. He supposed this was what he meant when he talked about ‘Trying a new thing together’ before. “Yeah, I guess you  _ were _ .” 

He didn’t want to be disappointed, but he had somewhat hoped for something more private with Karma. He wasn’t being ungrateful, he liked that they were going to perform, but he had something with Karma he wanted to fix. Not that he was sure if something between them was even really broken. In his own eyes, he himself was the issue, not Karma. It made sense for him to get bored with him a little while back. 

“You don’t have to take things so seriously, you know?” Karma suddenly said. Surprised, Nagisa just stared up at him. He questioned how Karma had known about his thoughts. 

Karma shook his head, as if he were disappointed with Nagisa. “I see you watching me when I dance, and I’m not an idiot to what you said when it was just the two of us. You’re upset for some reason and somehow think everything is about you, when it’s not. 

I’d advise you to not take my actions too seriously. I’m but a fool, and, most of the time,  _ I  _ don't even know what I’m doing.” 

Nagisa stared at Karma in silence. If Karma told him to not take him seriously, perhaps he was right. Karma wasn’t like him, trying to rationalize his actions might have been a little wrong. Who knows why Karma quit ballet. Maybe he just didn’t like the music. It  _ can _ get pretty boring at times. 

“Okay.” Nagisa sighed. “I’ll try that.” 

As a reaction, Karma finger gunned at him, which would have been even funnier if he still had his cowboy hat. Sadly, Kurahashi seemed in no hurry to give it back to him. Nagisa didn’t think he really minded that. Karma got a weirdly cocky attitude when he wore that hat. 5 minutes of that is fun, a little more and he’d go nuts. 

“Well, get to studio 5B early tomorrow. I saw this crazy lift on tv and we  _ have _ to try it. This isn’t a question, it’s a demand, partner.” Karma said, and then he just walked off before Nagisa could answer. 

And so, Nagisa was left standing there, trying to figure out how Karma knew he didn’t have class first period the next day. It seemed Kayano and Sugino, who had both stayed quiet the entire time, weren’t sure what just happened either. They stood next to him, eyeing him in confusion. Nagisa couldn’t blame them. 

“Since when do you and Karma practice together?” Sugino finally broke the silence. 

Nagisa tried to stop himself from blushing as he turned to his friends with a kind smile on his face. “Since now, I guess.” 

**Act 2 Part 2**

“And 5, and 6, and 7, and move to the  _ other side  _ Yoshida, aaaand-” Korosensei stopped at the sound of a loud  _ bang _ echoing through the room. He shrinks together slightly and looks in the direction of the person it came from. 

Nagisa had a painful look on his face as he sat on the ground, not having moved since he’d fallen there mere seconds ago. Overall he seemed fine. Judging by the way he was sitting, he hadn’t fallen on anything important. He’d definitely be upset though. The boy had been working on his backflip for ages now, and he still couldn’t do it. He didn’t want him to continue and  _ actually _ hurt himself. 

“Okay uh- We’ll go practice the tango section for a bit,” Korosensei announced as he walked closer to the group of dancers currently in the middle of the room. Teresaka’s annoyed face didn’t go past him as he stopped in front of Nagisa and looked at him with a concerned look on his face. “Are you okay, Nagisa?” 

“I’m fine.” Nagisa sighed. Korosensei was right, he  _ was _ disappointed in himself. 

He stretched out his hand for Nagisa, who gladly took the help to get up. The moment he was up he rubbed his lower back, probably the most hurting area then. Korosensei considered it and realized it should be fine, seeing as Nagisa’s overall posture was still fine. Right now he was more concerned with never forcing him to do that again. He can  _ not  _ have a student getting an injury on his watch. Honestly, he’d prefer them not getting hurt on any watch. 

“We’ll scratch the backflip thing,” He told Nagisa, who immediately looked at him in horror. Before Nagisa could interrupt him he held up his hand to stop him and continued talking. “You’re not about to get hurt for this, I don’t care how  _ close _ you think you are to getting it. We’ll turn it into a turn and go into the pop and locking then.” 

Of course Nagisa was disappointed, but it was for the best. He called forth the dancers he needed for the next session to practice and told the others to help each other polish moves from dances their friends weren’t familiar with. Korosensei expected them to ask their friends, but it seemed everyone was talking to everyone. The overall mood in the group was definitely improving, and that was a good thing for creating a performance. Especially seeing as they had so little time left. 

The tango section was very fun to him. Some of these students were really awkward about partner dances and it showed. When he first announced this piece he had to quite literally force partners. Luckily, they started swapping and forming new partners in no time. Some people truly did look good together. 

At that moment, his focus was on Yoshida, who was attempting to lead Hara in the dance, which Hara seemed to be way more skilled at. Apparently the two had known each other since they were younger, yet somehow they never danced together. That was a shame, because they seemed to be having a lot of fun, even if Yoshida was very awkward about it. 

He looked to his side to see how other students were doing and let out a sigh. Not everyone was as serious all the time. Then again, his students were young and wanted to have fun. It usually wouldn’t bother him too much, if it wasn’t always the same people screwing around. No matter how good they already were, it kept being bothersome. 

“Karma, if you could please not spin Nagisa unplanned like that.” He raised his voice at Karma, but he still sounded exasperated. “It’s not in the choreography and only confuses him.” 

In response, Karma just smiled a little too wide. Nagisa looked dizzy. He must have been spinning for a bit. 

Korosensei reverted his focus to the rest of the class, hoping Karma would work along with him for a bit. The kid had been of great help to him, but his attitude definitely hadn’t changed. He supposed it added character, made him different or something like that. That didn’t stop his behaviour from being  _ very _ annoying. 

A smile returned to his face as he watched Nakamura show off how much she’d improved on her pirouette, and Kanzaki and Kayano being very impressed by her doing so. Her turnout in the position before her turn was far from perfect, but that might take years to train. It was definitely good for someone who had been doing it for little over a week. 

Nakamura then proceeded to give Kayano notes on her dancing, which Kayano was a little pouty about seeing as she’d just praised Nakamura so much. It honestly was a good thing, though. It meant they wanted the others to improve too. Working together can’t just be doing what you’re told and accepting everything. A little bit of feedback is good, even if it’s negative. 

He really saw a team starting to form in group E. 

Without getting too sentimental about it, he let his eyes scan the room again, looking for any student that could need his help. Everyone seemed to be doing just fine. If they struggled they picked it up again. Soon everyone would know their steps, and all he had to do was make sure they were in sync and looking good. There was still a lot of work ahead of him, but he was committed to this project now. He wasn’t lying about what he told his students earlier. He wasn’t going to give up. 

\----------------------------

Korosensei couldn’t say he was surprised when Nagisa asked to talk to him after class at the end of the week. With everything going on, he hadn’t had much time to talk to the boy, and Nagisa himself had been busy, too, because of another audition he went to. But he wasn’t an idiot, he knew Nagisa wanted the backflip back in the dance. 

“Korosensei, I know it’s… well maybe it’s a little pretentious but, I  _ know _ I can do this backflip.” Nagisa pleaded, the moment he sat down on one of the plastic chairs Korosensei had gotten into the studio for them. He wanted this talk to be done sort of properly, but he didn’t have an office. This was the next best thing. 

He shook his head. “Nagisa, it’s idiotic to keep trying.” He knew he had to be honest with his student to get him to leave this room satisfied. “I’m sure you’ll be able to do it… one day. The showcase is less than 2 weeks away and you’re going to get yourself hurt trying to do it by then.” 

Frustratingly, Nagisa didn’t give in. Korosensei wasn’t sure why Nagisa was so set on it, but his entire body language changed after Korosensei was done talking. Whereas he usually had an insecure and careful air around him, he seemed to beam something a lot more bold this time. 

The look Nagisa was giving him, was one of determination. 

“I need you to trust me,” He said, no longer pleading. His tone was definitely different. “This isn’t just me proving something to this academy like the entire E group is doing. I need to prove this to myself.  _ I _ need to know I can do this, more than anyone else.” 

It was surprising. There wasn’t much Nagisa had to prove to him. Nagisa was an excellent dancer, if only a little passionless sometimes. But maybe, just maybe, that’s what this was about. Doing a dance is something, doing a new dance is more, but working this hard for it and doing something you don’t actually need to… If that isn’t passion, Korosensei didn’t know what was. 

“Okay, I’ll put it back in the dance.” 

At first Nagisa didn’t know how to react. He just stared at his teacher in surprise, even a little confused. Korosensei supposed he’d given in rather quickly. It just didn’t take much to see Nagisa’s true intent at that moment. He could do nothing more than respect Nagisa’s wish. 

Then, he smiled. He stood up a little too quickly, clearly very enthusiastic, and Korosensei suspected he wanted to practice immediately. He could never have told Nagisa no if he was like that. It’d be hypocritical of him after talking about what dance was supposed to be. If this was what Nagisa really felt he had to do then Korosensei wouldn’t be the one to stop him. 

“You won’t be disappointed!” Nagisa enthused. 

Korosensei just hoped Nagisa wouldn’t disappoint himself. 

\--------------------------------

Dance practices were hard, but the E group was working harder than they ever had to get through it. Nagisa, at least, felt that that was the case. He’d never spent as much time stretching and taking care of sore muscles as he had in those weeks the E group had been working seriously on their performance for the big showcase. 

All the pain and fatigue he experienced outside of class didn’t matter, he was way too excited. Performing was great, and this showcase meant a lot. He didn’t care that much about scouts that would be in the audience, but he supposed it was a good thing. More than anything, he really felt like he wanted to dance a lot again. Something about what he was doing now felt so much better than everything he’d done before. He considered that it was the new dance styles, but he wasn’t too sure. 

And he’d started to improve his backflip landing too! Last time he tried, he’d  _ almost  _ landed perfectly on his feet. He fell over again, of course, but it was something. It was enough to get him to feel a rush going through his entire body and get energy to have another shot at doing it. 

In class, however, Korosensei asked him to focus on practicing the other things with his fellow students. That was fine, he had enough time outside of school to spend on the backflip. Then again, he also spent that time practicing all the other parts he was in. 

He also really should find time to privately practice with Hazama, if he wanted to successfully lift her. God, he hated lifting. Never had he really done that properly. He didn’t like admitting it, but he was just too small and fragile for it. Not made for lifting anything over twenty kilos… and even that was a lot. 

They’re about half an hour into their group practice, and Nagisa was sitting on the side, seeing as he wasn’t needed for the part they were practicing in the main group, and he’d rather watch his friends than try something on his own. Out of seemingly nowhere, Karma appeared next to him, not looking particularly cocky, which was a good sign. Nagisa smiled at him to greet him, and he did the same in return. 

“Judging our classmates?” Karma asked, and he proceeded to point towards Terasaka. “I mean, with that ape doing contemporary dancing, there’s a lot of laughing material right in front of you. Sort of for free! If you don’t count the academy’s tuition.” 

Nagisa shook his head. “No, just observing in a friendly manner actually. Don’t think I want to practice the next part by myself. My next part has so much  _ hip movement _ , It honestly looks a little…  _ improper _ .” 

“Actually, now that you’re trying new things anyways, why not try some pole dancing? I’d love to be your private tuto-” 

His suggestion was abruptly interrupted by Nagisa poking him in the side hard. 

“Don’t you have some line dancing to do, cowboy?” Nagisa attempted to set up a teasing tone such as Karma always had. It wasn’t entirely his thing though, so it probably sounded a little off. Karma still had a stupid grin on his face, however. 

“No time for horsing around, let’s get dancing, partner.”

The two ended up laughing at each other a little before they returned to looking at the ongoing class, not actually dancing themselves at all. Their fellow students were still stuck on the same move, and Nagisa was surprised Karma hadn’t made a snarky comment about it. He knew Karma liked to make clear how above the others he was. Right then, he was silent. 

He noticed how close Karma is standing to him as they’re watching the rest. He also noticed how fast his own heart is racing, and how good that actually felt. 

**Act 2 Part 3**

Out of all the times Nagisa had been backstage in his life, this particular instant was making him feel even more nervous than usual. The E group had worked so hard and he  _ knew _ they could do this. Or, well, he knew the group could do it. He was mostly doubting himself at that point. Realistically speaking, he knew he was the one who wanted to do his backflip so badly, but he still felt like he had enormous expectations to live up to from his friends. 

Plus, his mother was in the audience, too, so the pressure was on. 

He really wanted to just start pacing like crazy and perhaps even have a little cry in the bathroom, but he was stopped by the sudden appearance of a hand on his shoulder. When he turned around he saw it was Karma, giving him a worried, but considerate, look. Nagisa didn’t want to worry him, or anyone else for that matter, so he put on a smile. It definitely felt more forced than usual to him. 

“Don’t worry, we’re going to rock this.” Somehow Karma didn’t seem nervous at all. He always appeared professional like that. 

Nagisa, on the other hand, was nervous about literally anything he could possibly ever be nervous about. “I don’t know I just- I just wish I had some kind of sign this would go well, not like- not like a good luck omen but more like-” 

“Man, good luck omens though.” Karma interrupted him, a little insensitive in Nagisa’s opinion. “Really wish I got my hat back. Kurahashi literally took it home?!” 

When Nagisa gave him a confused and uncaring look, surprised that the stupid cowboy hat was Karma’s priority, Karma stared at him with a face that said he was actually serious about the issue. 

“The hat brings luck, Nagisa, don’t disrespect it.” 

“Okay, everyone! Group E, gather around with me!” Korosensei called for their group, and apparently everyone was listening because they’d created a big circle within seconds. All eyes were on Korosensei, who wasn’t showing even a miniscule bit of worry on his face. Rather, he was talking to them with a proud smile. Nagisa sensed he was putting on a little bit of a facade, but only a little. 

“Now’s the time,” He started his pep talk to them, “to show everyone just how versatile you are and how much you can do. You all know  _ I _ believe in you, and I hope you trust your peers to believe in you too. But, more importantly, I want all of you to believe in yourself. You got into this academy, you learned a dance in a much shorter period than all the other groups, and I know you guys will  _ kill it. _ ” 

Several smiles and grins went around in their group. People looked at their friends and gave encouraging looks to people close to them. They’d work together and do this, no matter how scary Nagisa still thought it was. 

Eventually they got called towards the stage and everyone took their places. Nagisa found himself standing next to Hazama, the two of them being the first ones to go on stage. They got that first part, a simple pas de deux, just the beginning of one with a medium difficulty level. The hardest part was a lift, but after hours of practice, he and Hazama knew it would at the very least pass decently. 

The lights changed. Nagisa looked back once more to see Kayano smiling at him from behind him. When she noticed him looking she put her thumb up and Nagisa gave a shaky smile in response. Hazama raised an eyebrow at him, not in a belittling way, however. 

Nagisa nodded at her and Hazama returned her gaze to the stage. The music started and Nagisa put his usual soft performing smile on his face as he led Hazama on the stage and, together, they started dancing. 

\---------------------------------------

The moment his students went on, Korosensei rushed to join the audience. Of course he wanted to support his students from behind the curtains and be their mental support through all of this. However, as a choreographer making a statement, he also wished to see the audience’s reaction. It was just another pro that he could thus also manage to see their entire performance play out. These things were meant to be looked at on the stage and not from the side whilst keeping immensely quiet so the public won’t notice you’re there. 

He was more than excited to see everyone’s reactions, not just for his sake but also for his students. These prestigious students seem to think they’re above the E group, but they’re about to be blown right out of their chairs. Though, perhaps the dark pas de deux Nagisa and Hazama started with wasn’t too surprising just yet. 

Korosensei kept a particularly good eye on the reaction of Asano Gakushuu, son of the academy’s principal, and overall considered a top student. Of course, Asano was a brilliant dancer and a perfectionist if anything, he wouldn’t put on a performance if it wasn’t the very best thing it could possibly be at that moment. From what he’d heard, that put a lot of pressure on A group. Their performance was outstanding, of course, but not surprising. Considering they did contemporary, it wasn’t very experimental like its origin. 

Of course, Korosensei knew  _ his  _ students were. 

His heart skiped a beat as Nagisa lifted Hazama and his arms were shaking slightly, but still clearly visible to the audience. That boy really wasn’t strong. However, the lift happened and Hazama was not dropped on the floor, which was good enough. There was another move he was more nervous about, and Korosensei imagined Nagisa’s ever so tense dancing as a sign he was nervous about it too. 

“They’re going to make a ballet performance?” Asano turned to his friends laughing, who did the same in return. None of them seemed impressed so far. “Great entertainment, I’d like to see some of those monkeys in that group  _ try _ ballet.” 

Stifled laughter could be heard more around them, apparently many people had the same thoughts. Korosensei knew better however, and couldn’t wait for these so called ‘monkeys’ to enter the stage. Sure, ballet wasn’t their forte, but with the amount of hours these kids spent practicing and teaching each other, what they were about to do was bound to come across great. 

The moment came. Terasaka, Yoshida, Muramatsu, and Itona came on stage, moving significantly different from the two ballet dancers. One glance at Asano and Korosensei knew he was confused. They weren’t trying to do ballet, flipping the whole performance around a little. 

As they stopped midstage, Nagisa and Hazama parted. Hazama joined her squad and posed as Nagisa twirled away. In fear of the upcoming move, Korosensei bit his own lip in anticipation. The pain of his teeth nearly bursting open the thin layer of skin kept him from freaking out too much. He wanted this to work, and he definitely wanted to ensure Nagisa didn’t end up hurting himself. There wasn’t much he could do anymore, however, it was all up to Nagisa relying on his hours of practice. Mostly, Nagisa had to rely on himself. 

He turned, took a few classical steps and then, without breaking his ballet form, set off. 

When he landed, he stood still for a second, not giving much of a reaction. But within seconds a wide smile appeared on his face, much less gentle than his usual performing smile, and so much more expressive. In return Korosensei couldn’t help but smile too. He actually did it. 

Without much delay the students on stage continue, Hazama and Nagisa now joining in on the hip hop moves seemingly effortless. As more people entered the stage to join and add on even more styles, Korosensei let himself listen to Asano’s group again. However, they were speechless. 

The music went into a different flow again, and, as some dancers left the stage, the tango section started. Judging as a trained choreographer, he noticed some mistakes, but the clearly visible chemistry on stage makes everything alright. Not only were they decently in sync for a group that had not nearly enough practice, the group also looked like they were having fun as they performed, and that was just about the only thing Korosensei could ask of his students. 

Hayami spun, Chiba’s hand holding her in place and the other pairs moved to the new position so yet another segment could start. Perhaps it did have many fragments, but to Korosensei that wasn’t a bad thing. It was orderly in order. It was like a broken mirror on the ground, chaos, but it was special, and beautiful in its own way. 

The audience started reacting a little more. People seemed to finally get into it. Perhaps the considerably suggestive hip movements coming from Karma and Nakamura aided in that a little. Truly, a lot more like modern performances than contemporary tended to be. Not that Korosensei would ever support his students  _ twerking _ on stage. Karma and Nakamura had heavily debated in favour of a little ‘spice’ being added to the performance. That meant they could be the one to add it themselves. Luckily, people stayed enthusiastic when that was over, and a small segment of a jazz routine took over the stage. 

A well synchronised high kick surprised the audience once again, but before they could react more, a smaller, selective group stepped forward. Mimura, Kanzaki and Sugino performed a short combo together. Mimura was already a decent Jazz dancer, and so was Kanzaki, but Sugino had never done any Jazz in his life. The memory of him practically  _ begging _ Kanzaki to teach him came to Korosensei and made him laugh a little. That boy had definitely had ulterior motives. That didn’t matter, he performed well, so he wasn’t going to complain about it. 

The music kept changing, going for a jazz and hip hop combination. Some students really handled flexibility better than others, Korosensei noted he had to mind the kids’s talents if he ever got to choreograph with them again. A smile crept on his face at that thought. He hoped he got to work with the E group students again. 

Terasaka performed a lift with Hazama, this time, a lot smoother than Nagisa had before. To be fair, he was a lot stronger. His ballet moves were not that great though. Terasaka did a Plié, looking slightly ridiculous and causing a bit of laughter in the audience, but the moment he went back to pop and lock he looked a lot more like himself. Still, he executed things fine when thinking back to what he’d been doing only a few weeks prior. 

That was the case for all of his students. Every student performed at least two styles they were unfamiliar with before they got together, except Karma perhaps. The truth was that they looked great doing it too. He genuinely hoped this would make Yada try her hand at some more latin dancing, because she looked great doing it on that stage. Same for Sugaya with jazz, Kataoka with hip hop, and Itona with the small capoeira section he’d gotten. Actually, he hoped all of his students would branch out, because all of them looked more than amazing with at least one of their new styles. Korosensei could honestly make a list of who should definitely try what, but he figured he’d leave that type of decision for the students themselves. 

So much more happened and before Korosensei knew it, the dance was over. It took a few seconds for the entire audience to applaud them, some people still not sure how to react to the E group’s dance. Korosensei considered that a success. 

The applause lasted relatively long, but eventually all his students had left the stage, no one seemed disappointed about what they had just put on. Korosensei once again had to run, this time to retreat to the backstage area once more. He wanted to receive his students properly and praise them for everything they had just shown. 

When he arrived backstage he saw everyone talking excitedly. He had to actually put in some effort to get them all to quiet down and listen to him, he couldn’t blame them. Once they were finally shushed, he stood before them with a proud smile, trying to find the right words to tell them. Truly, what was there to say other than the obvious? 

“I am… beyond proud,” He finally decided to say. It was a little basic, but it did its job. “You had all the odds against you and- and, well, you blew everyone away and got what I think may have been the greatest applause of the day. 

I ask you all to be proud of yourselves. My feelings might matter to you, too, but I hope all of you can see this dance as a push for your self confidence. You’re not going to get there by doubting yourselves. And- I hope that- I hope that after today, you will all  _ still _ keep improving, because none of you are perfect, and always beat yourself, and ensure yourself of your own capabilities. 

Perfect dancers, all of you.” 

Perhaps he was a little sentimental. Personally, he thought he had the right to be. After all their effort and the struggles this showcase had brought, he deserved to show a little too much emotion. Emotion was just showing passion, right? 

The students didn’t seem to be too into that, most scrunching their nose in disgust. Others liked it, probably the more sentimental types, but not nearly enough for Korosensei to be proud of his reaction. He wasn’t about to take back his comment, however. 

Everyone went off. Some kept talking to each other and others went to find their parents. Korosensei went past some students, giving them more individually based compliments, but also feedback. He was a teacher, after all, and he saw this as just another learning experience. 

He wanted to find Nagisa next. He’d hoped to personally congratulate the boy on the successful backflip and, perhaps, tell him he was right about being able to do it. Nagisa was someone who could handle hearing that, without boosting his ego too much. If anything, he really needed more of an ego. Korosensei would love to aid him in that and compliment his skills that night, but he was nowhere to be found. 

In the audience he saw who he knew to be Nagisa’s mother, seeing as he’d gone to talk to her before the performance already. Serious looking woman, Shiota Hiromi, a real dance mom, apparently. However, she was no clue to Nagisa's whereabouts, seeing as she was sitting alone without her son around. Actually, judging by the way she was looking around, she was trying to find him too. 

“Korosensei!” From behind him he heard a girl call for him. Turning around, he saw the source of the sound was Kurahashi, who was followed by Kimura and Kanzaki. “It was amazing! I do hope you get to teach here from now on.” 

A little flustered, Korosensei nodded. “I do hope so, I’d be honoured to.” 

Kanzaki gave him a gentle smile. “They’d be mad not to take you after what you pulled off. I think  _ they _ should be honoured you'd want to stay after the whole E group chaos.” Korosensei didn’t like to think of it as a bad chaos. He rather liked it, actually. 

He thanked the students and left the auditorium, looking around in the hallway for his missing student. Thankfully, it wasn’t so hard to leave after that conversation, meaning his person of interest probably hadn’t gotten very far at that point. Once he continued his search around the corner he finally noticed not one, but  _ two _ students who had left their group earlier. 

Honestly, he’d had a feeling all along. It’s not uncommon for dancers to have chemistry, even a chemistry that goes beyond dance, and these two students of his had exactly that. They looked great dancing together, perhaps better than dancing alone, and outside of that seemed to like being around each other quite a bit. They were like magnets, somehow always pulled together when they walked into the same room. Sometimes that was a little annoying to work with, if Korosensei was entirely honest. 

He saw none other than Karma and Nagisa, having a very passionate moment with Karma standing against the wall that Nagisa, on his toes in front of him, was pushing him against, with his hands placed on Karma’s chest, both having their eyes closed, as they finally kissed. 

Korosensei resisted the smile on his face and slowly moved away, giving his two dancers the moment they needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all of you enjoyed it! thanks you so much for reading and I hope all of you read all the other great fics and appreciate all the other art the BigBang is bringing to this fandom!
> 
> Sorry if you read my bodyswap fic and were waiting for me to update that.


End file.
